1776 Common Sense by Thomas Paine : pamphlet made to encourage Americans to break away from the English government due to their unjustified constitution
1788 The Federalist Papers by "Publius" (aka Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, + John Jay) : series of essays explaining and defending the Constitution
1783 American Spelling Book + 1828 An American Dictionary of the English Lanuage by Noah Webster : spelling book (that was best-selling US book besides Bible) + dictionary = national standard of words + usages
1846-1880 De Bow's Review by James B. D. De Bow : mag. that emphazised southern economic independence even though it relied on northern facilities to print
Hudson River School painted Hudson River Valley landscape, embracing its nature
"Leatherstocking Tales" by Fenimore Cooper : embraced nature w/ novels about Indians, pioneers, the law
1851 Moby DIck by Herman Melville : emphasized the troublesome human spirit
1836 "Nature" (and other essays/lectures/poems) by Ralph Waldo Emerson : transcendentalist and/or nationalist works
1830s Phrenology Almanac by Orson and Lorenzo Fowler : popularized science of phrenology in US
1831 The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison : newspaper that supported immediate abolition rather than gradualism
1847 North Star by Frederick Douglass : black antislavery newspaper
1852 Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe : best-selling book exposing slavery, supporting abolition
Henry Grady : editor of Atlanta Constitution who coined name of "New South" during Reconstruction
"Rocky Mountain School" : painters who celebrated Great West, inspiring tourism there
Frederic Remington : painter/sculptor who romanticized the west
1901 The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie : argued that wealthy people had responsibility of giving back to advance social US
"Acres of Diamonds" lecture by Russell H. Conwell : supporting gospel of wealth by stating that millionaires usually went from rags to riches while working their way up
Horatio Alger : writer of rags-to-riches stories making people believe that anyone can work their was up to the top
1883 Dynamic Sociology by Lester Frank Ward : believed gov. should intervene to better society & that people could adjust to serve their needs
1879 Progress and Poverty by Henry George : proposed single tax to end monopolies and poverty, + distribute wealth
1888 Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy : new idea of "nationalism" where gov. controlled one great trust of businesses w/ "fraternal cooperation" rather than competition
Central Park, created in 1850s by Frederick Law Olmstead + Calvert Vaux : one of most popular + admired public parks that served as an escape from urban life
1890 How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis : described tenement (slum dwelling) life, which was shocking to mid-class
Simon Patten : supported leisure spending in his books now that the industries could make enough goods to satisfy the needs + pleasures of the people
Ashcan School : painters who emphazised naturalism, showing the social realities of the era -> beginning of modernism
1890 The Influence of Sea Power upon History by Alfred Thayer Mahan : explained that US needed sea power to be a great nation b/c of productive domestic economy, foreign commerce, strong merchant marine, navy to defend trade routes, + colonies w/ raw materials/markets
Ida Tarbell : muckraker who made an expose of the Standard Oil trust
Lincoln Steffens : muckraker exposed "boss rule" + "machine gov." , influencing urban political reform during the Progressive era
1903 The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois : attacked Atlanta Compromise, calling out for blacks to fight for their rights + strive to progress -> inspired creation of NAACP
H.L. Mencken : a "debunker" who produced magazines that ridiculed mid-class
1906 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair : descibed disgusting conditions in meatpacking industry & inspired the Meat Inspection Act
1925 The Great Gatsby by E Scott Fitzgerald : ridiculed American obsession w/ material success
Life Magazine (started 1936) : photographic journal that especially showed sporting events, theater events, natural landscapes, + public projects -> most successful mag in US history w/ largest readership
1930-1936 U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos : attacked US culture's materialistic madness during Depression
1939 The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck : described social conditions of the West in the 1930s, harshly exploiting agrarian life
1946 Baby and Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock : guide to raising babies -> influenced stay-at-home moms to join work force
Echo Park : national park where most people traveled as a sort of vacation -> helped popularize US environmental movement
1962 The Other America by Michael Harrington : emphasized US poverty that was hard to escape from (esp. natives)
1963 The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan : explained how the suburbs kept women in a bubble where they could not progress -> helped feminist movement
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